


Perfect

by orphan_account



Category: Firefly, Serenity (2005)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-09
Updated: 2009-01-09
Packaged: 2017-10-02 04:22:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the request, "finding that perfect Christmas tree on some snowy planet". AU where Zoe dies on Miranda, not Wash.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> Beta by lvs2read.

“River, if you keep playing with your food like that, you’ll be late for work. You need to hurry.”

“We get our gifts today, too, don’t want to be late for that,” Wash said to her across the table, although he wasn’t done with his breakfast either. 

 River smiled at him. “Because it’s almost Christmas.”

 “Hard to imagine,” said Simon thoughtfully, running some water in the sink. “That means we’ve been here eight months.” _Eight short months when so much has happened. _

 After Zoë died at Miranda, and a few other members of the crew came close, things never exactly got put back together right. Without Zoë, the pieces just didn’t fit. They drifted from job to job for awhile. Simon and Kaylee found they didn’t quite fit either. Simon still loved her like a mèi mei,though. He was happy for her when she sent captures of Jayne’s and her baby girl; he just hoped that the kid took after her mother. Mal and Inara pooled their savings to buy a steel fabrication company on Paquin. They never said as much, but everyone suspected they were probably more than business partners these days.

 “Why don’t we have a Christmas tree?” River asked innocently. She looked from Simon to Wash, who glanced at each other.

 “Yeah,” said Wash, narrowing his eyes at Simon playful-accusingly, “why don’t we have a Christmas tree?”

 “Since when am I in charge around here? No one’s stopping either one of you from getting a Christmas tree.”

Truthfully, it just hadn’t occurred to him, even when he’d seen the colored lights through the frost-covered windows of their neighbors’ houses. He was busy being a doctor again, albeit an unlicensed one that was sometimes paid in groceries, IOUs, or not at all. But that wasn’t the reason. It was more that they were still figuring out this whole “family” thing, that their happiness was so new that they weren’t quite sure what to do with it. Normalcy hadn’t been normal for them in a long time, and it was hard to remember, sometimes, what people acted like when they weren’t dodging bullets and Feds.

 When Wash heard about a flight school that was hiring instructors, Simon never thought twice about following him if he went. Wash falling in love with him had been the second of two good things that had come out of all the tragedy of Miranda. The first was that it set River on the road to recovery. She would probably never be “normal,”just like Wash would never completely stop mourning his warrior woman. But the two people that Simon loved most in the world were getting another chance at happiness.

 Sure, it wasn’t how he’d pictured it. It was a far cry from the excitement and prestige of a career in surgery on Osiris, this quiet little town centered around the flight school. Someone doing the hiring had a browncoat connection, so a single wave from Mal, and Wash had gone from “applicant” to “senior instructor.” The position came with a small house, old but clean, with creaky wooden floors and a cheerful yellow kitchen.River was brought on as an assistant physics instructor, surprising everyone with her ability to teach. The two of them walked to work together.

 “So are we getting one?”

 “I don’t see why not.”

 “Good, because I already bought ornaments. They’re under my bed in my room.”

 Both Wash and Simon looked surprised.

 “What? They were colored . . . and shiny,” she said.“I wanted them.”

 “Well, I have a dozen appointments today so I’m _leaving_,” Simon said, putting the last dishes in the sink and grabbing his medkit next to the door.

 “Wait!” said Wash, jumping up from the table.

“What?”

 Wash crossed over to him quickly, kissing him firmly on the mouth. “Have a great day, with the injuries, and the diseases and all.

“Thanks. See you tonight.”

 “Christmas tree!” River called after him.

 “I won’t forget!” 

 

* * * *

“So you _never_ had one of these as a kid? Truly, you were deprived.” Wash and Simon walked hand in hand through the Christmas tree farm, following River as she flitted from tree to tree, examining them. Holding a warm, gloved hand in the cold felt good. Strings of lights criss-crossed the farm, illuminating the falling snow with their pale light.

 “Our parents had a very expensive artificial tree, professionally decorated to accent the décor, of course.” Simon said it a bit distastefully, but not bitterly. Wash liked to think their life together, the happiness they had now, was healing some of the wounds of the past. 

 “Really? Too bad. The real trees smell great. And they get little pine needles all over the place, and if you have a cat, the cat eats them and yaks them up on the floor.”

Simon laughed. “That’s . . . charming.”

 Wash hadn’t been born on a cold planet, so the snow still fascinated him. It was coming down soft and silent, lighting on their hair and shoulders. Wash noticed how white the tiny snowflakes looked on Simon’s dark hair before they melted, giving it a pleasing sheen. It made him want to squeeze Simon tight against him. The younger man smiled when he did. There was something fun about touching through all those layers of clothes.

 The smell of evergreen surrounded them as the snow crunched under their feet.

“River, what about this one?” Wash pointed out a tall, symmetrical Douglas fir. River scrunched up her nose and flitted off again.

 “I’m not getting a vote in this, am I?”

 Simon smiled and shook his head. “Probably not.”

 “Here!” River stood proudly next to a tall tree. Tall, and a little . . . misshapen, the branches were full and strong and the needles were a beautiful shade of dark green, but there was something about it that was just – odd.  
   
“Are you sure that’s the one you want, mèi mei?”

 River looked confused. “You don’t like it?”

 “No, it’s -”

 Wash saved him, as usual. “It’s beautiful, honey. That’s the one you want, that’s the one we’ll get.”

 River beamed.

 When the trunk cracked and they smelled sap, Simon thought he’d remember this night forever.

   
* * * *

 “We could pop open our presents, to have while we decorate,” Wash suggested.

 The fire was going, warming them up after their Christmas tree adventure and giving the small living room a beautiful glow. River had lit some candles, too, and found some Christmas music to stream on the cortex. The tree was in its stand, looking surprisingly perfect for the space. Simon made a mental note, as he often did, to never question River’s judgment again. River’s stash of lights and ornaments were in a box on the floor. All that was left to do was decorate.

 “Oh yeah, I forgot. What did you guys get?”

 Wash looked to River conspiratorially. She giggled and hurried off to the kitchen, returning with a bottle of champagne and three glasses.

 “You guys got champagne?” Wash and River smiled as she poured. “My best haul of the day was a bag of turnips, and for them I had to – well, I’ll spare you the details but suffice it to say I had to drain something.”

 Both his lover and his sister made a face.

“So,” said Wash, handing everyone a glass, “Cheers everyone, Merry Christmas.”

 Their glasses clinked together and Simon felt the cold bubbles on his tongue. The liquid looked gold in the firelight.

 “The first ornament is for Wash,” River said excitedly, bending gracefully to fish in her stash, then handing him a small box.

 Wash smiled when he took out the ornament, but something in his eyes made Simon take him by the waist and give him a reassuring squeeze. It was a shiny orange dinosaur on a gold string.

 “C’mere.” He pulled River in for a hug, kissing her forehead. “I love it.”

 Wash hung it right in the center of the tree.

* * * *

 Later, when the tree was decorated and the last of the second bottle of champagne was in their glasses, Wash and Simon sat on the couch, watching the twinkling lights.  
   
Simon took in Wash’s peaceful expression. “Wash,” he started, “thanks for tonight. Thanks for being great with River. Thanks for -”

 Wash cut him off with a kiss. “You know I love River almost as much as I love you.We’re family.”

 “I – I know.” Simon couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so safe and happy.

 Wash didn’t let him contemplate long, though, just went back to planting soft-lipped kisses on Simon’s mouth. Simon let his lover’s tongue past hislips then felt a hand slip under his shirt at his waist.

 “Are you trying to seduce me, flyboy?”

 “Is it working?” Wash’s blue eyes were sparkling in a way that Simon knew meant just one thing.  


 He made a move to head for the bedroom, but Wash stopped him, gently pulling him close. _The fire will be enough to keep warm, and you can see everything better when you aren’t covered in blankets._ Wash wanted to see the pale skin of that muscular chest covered in colored light and that dark hair shining in the firelight.


End file.
